Configuration space compaction

ABSTRACT

In an interconnect apparatus for interconnecting at least one host to at least a plurality of presentation registers provide a presentation interface for the device to the host. The interconnect apparatus includes memory for holding the presentation registers and a governor operable to manage the presentation registers in the memory.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to communication apparatus and in particular, but not exclusively, to PCI Express interconnect apparatus.

In many computer environments, a fast and flexible interconnect system can be desirable to provide connectivity to devices capable of high levels of data throughput. In the fields of data transfer between devices in a computing environment, PCI Express (PCI-E) can be used to provide connectivity between a host and one or more client devices or endpoints. PCI Express is becoming a de-facto I/O interconnect for servers and desktop computers. PCI Express allows physical system decoupling (CPU<->I/O) through high-speed serial I/O. The PCI Express Base Specification 1.0 sets out behavior requirements of devices using the PCI Express interconnect standard. According to the Specification, PCI Express is a host to endpoint protocol where each endpoint connects to a host and is accessible by the host. PCI Express imposes a stringent tree structure relationship between I/O Devices and a Root Complex.

PCI device design can be engineering intensive and multi-function devices require additional effort to implement register sets per added function. Hardware needs to present a consistent model to software but aspects of a design such as the functions, devices, embedded bridges, etc., might not be determined early in the design and might need to change during development.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made, at least in part, in consideration of problems and drawbacks of conventional systems.

An aspect of the invention provides an interconnect apparatus for interconnecting at least one host to at least one device, and includes a plurality of presentation registers providing a presentation interface for the device to the host. The interconnect apparatus comprises memory for holding the presentation registers and a governor operable to manage the presentation registers in the memory.

An example embodiment of the invention can include partitioning device management into a presentation layer that software uses, which presentation layer defines and allows control of a device through its CSR registers and an underlying, or foundation, layer which directly monitors and manipulates the PCI protocol. Firmware or management software can be employed to configure the components comprising the layers into an integral PCI device.

Although various aspects of the invention are set out in the accompanying independent claims, other aspects of the invention include any combination of features from the described embodiments and/or the accompanying dependent claims with the features of the independent claims, and not solely the combinations explicitly set out in the accompanying claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying Figures in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a PCI Express connection;

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of an example of a PCI Express fabric topology;

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a PCI Express switch;

FIG. 4 is a schematic overview of layering within PCI Express;

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of packet flow showing data encapsulation through the PCI-E logic layers shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structure overview for a Type 1 configuration header;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structure overview for a Type 0 configuration header;

FIG. 8 is a schematic overview of an I/O software framework;

FIG. 9 corresponds generally to FIG. 3;

FIG. 10 is a schematic representation giving a resources view of a PCI device structure;

FIG. 11 is a schematic representation of a PCI device structure where the resources are functions;

FIG. 12 is a schematic representation of a PCI device structure where the resources are devices;

FIG. 13 is a schematic representation of a further PCI device structure where the resources are functions;

FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram of part of an interconnect apparatus that includes a presentation layer;

FIG. 15 is a schematic block diagram of a computer system providing device virtualization.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF PARTICULAR EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the invention are described in the following with reference to an example of an interconnect apparatus for supporting PCI Express.

The PCI Express 1.0 standard set out in the PCI Express Base Specification 1.0 available from the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) Special Interest Group (www.pcisig.com) is one example of a computer interconnect standard. The PCI Express architecture is a high performance, general purpose I/O interconnect defined for a wide variety of existing and future computing and communication platforms. Key attributes from the original PCI architecture, such as its usage model, load-store architecture, and software interfaces, are maintained. On the other hand, the parallel bus implementation of PCI is replaced in PCI Express by a highly scalable, fully serial interface. Among the advanced features supported by PCI Express are Power Management, Quality of Service (QoS), Hot-Plug/Hot-Swap support, Data Integrity and Error Handling. PCI Express is also backwards compatible with the software models used to describe PCI, such that PCI Express hardware can be detected and configured using PCI system configuration software implementations with no modifications.

With reference to FIG. 1, there will now be described the basic point-to-point communications channel provided by PCI Express. A component collection consisting of two ports and the lanes connecting those ports can be referred to as a link. A link represents a dual-simplex communications channel between two components. As shown in FIG. 1, in its simplest form, a link 10 includes two components 12 and 14, each including a respective transmit and receive port pair 13 and 15. Two uni-directional, low-voltage, differentially driven channels 16 and 18 connect the ports of the components, one channel in each direction. The channel pair can be referred to as a lane. The channels 16 and 18 each carry packets 17 and 19 between the components. According to the PCI Express 1.0 specification, each lane provides a data transfer rate of 2.5 Gigabits/second/lane/direction. For circumstances where this data bandwidth is insufficient, to scale bandwidth, a link may aggregate multiple Lanes denoted by xN where N may be any of the supported Link widths. An x8 Link represents an aggregate bandwidth of 20 Gigabits/second of raw bandwidth in each direction. This base specification 1.0 describes operations for x1, x2, x4, x8, x12, x16, and x32 Lane widths. According to the specification only symmetrical links are permitted, such that a link includes the same number of lanes in each direction.

With reference to FIG. 2, there will now be described an example of a PCI Express fabric topology 20. A fabric is composed of point-to-point links that interconnect a set of components. In the example of FIG. 2, there is shown a single fabric instance 20 referred to as a hierarchy, composed of a root complex 21, multiple endpoints 25 (such as I/O devices), a switch 27, and a PCI Express to PCI Bridge 28, all interconnected via PCI Express Links. The root complex 21 can be connected to a CPU 22 and memory 23 subsystem which requires access to the I/O facilitated by the PCI Express Fabric. The combination of root complex, CPU and memory can be referred to as a host 24. Each of the components of the topology is mapped in a single flat address space and can be accessed using PCI-like load/store transaction semantics.

A root complex 21 is the root of an I/O hierarchy that connects the CPU/memory subsystem to the I/O. As illustrated in FIG. 2, a root complex 21 may support one or more PCI Express Ports. Each interface defines a separate hierarchy domain. Each hierarchy domain may be composed of a single endpoint or a sub-hierarchy containing one or more switch components and endpoints. The capability to route peer-to-peer transactions between hierarchy domains through a root complex is optional and implementation dependent. For example, an implementation may incorporate a real or virtual switch internally within the root complex to enable full peer-to-peer support in a software transparent way.

An endpoint 25 is a type of device that can be the requester or completer of a PCI Express transaction either on its own behalf or on behalf of a distinct non-PCI Express device (other than a PCI device or Host CPU). Examples of endpoints include: a PCI Express attached graphics controller, a PCI Express-USB host controller, and a PCI Express attached network interface such as an Ethernet MAC/PHY or Infiniband Host Channel Adapter (HCA).

A switch 27 is a logical assembly of multiple virtual PCI Express to PCI Express bridge devices as illustrated in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, an upstream port 31 which connects in the direction of a host connects to a number of downstream ports 33 via a switch fabric made up of a number of virtual PCI Express to PCI Express bridges. Switches are governed by a number of rules. Amongst these rules is a requirement that switches appear to configuration software as two or more logical virtual PCI Express to PCI Express Bridges and forward transactions using PCI Bridge mechanisms; e.g., address based routing. Also, a switch is not allowed to split a packet into smaller packets, e.g., a single packet with a 256-byte payload must not be divided into two packets of 128 bytes payload each. Each virtual PCI Express to PCI Express bridge 35 can be a physical PCI Express to PCI Express bridge or can be an alternative physical structure which is controlled to behave as a PCI Express to PCI Express bridge.

With reference to FIG. 2, it is noted that a PCI Express to PCI Bridge 28 can provide a connection between a PCI Express fabric and a PCI/PCI-X hierarchy. Thereby, conventional PCI/PCI-X devices 29 may be connected to the PCI Express fabric and accessed by a host including a PCI Express root complex.

A PCI Express fabric can be configured using one of two mechanisms. These are: a PCI compatible configuration mechanism which supports 100% binary compatibility with operating systems and host firmware and their corresponding bus enumeration and configuration software that is compatible with, for example, PCI rev 3.0 or later; and a PCI Express enhanced configuration mechanism which is provided to increase the size of available configuration space and to optimize access mechanisms.

Each PCI Express Link is mapped through a virtual PCI-to-PCI Bridge structure and has a logical PCI bus associated with it. The virtual PCI-to-PCI Bridge structure may be part of a PCI Express Root Complex Port, a Switch Upstream Port, or a Switch Downstream Port. A Root Port is a virtual PCI-to-PCI Bridge structure that originates a PCI Express hierarchy domain from a PCI Express Root Complex. Logical devices are mapped into configuration space such that each will respond to a particular device number. In the present case the device number is a Bus, Device, Function number (BDF). A BDF can comprise a 16-bit field including a Bus Number (8-bit, BN), a Device Number (5-bit, DN) and a Function Number (3-bit, FN).

A schematic overview of the PCI Express architecture in layers is shown in FIG. 4. As shown, there are three discrete logical layers: the Transaction Layer 41, the Data Link Layer 43, and the Physical Layer 45. Each of these layers is divided into two sections: one that processes outbound (to be transmitted) information and one that processes inbound (received) information.

PCI Express uses packets to communicate information between components. Packets are formed in the Transaction and Data Link Layers to carry the information from the transmitting component to the receiving component. As the transmitted packets flow through the other layers, they are extended with additional information necessary to handle packets at those layers. At the receiving side the reverse process occurs and packets get transformed from their Physical Layer representation to the Data Link Layer representation and finally (for Transaction Layer Packets) to the form that can be processed by the Transaction Layer of the receiving device.

A conceptual overview of the flow of transaction level packet information through the layers is shown in FIG. 5. Thus the Transaction Layer 41 provides a packet header 55, and can provide a data payload 56 and an optional end-to-end cyclic redundancy check (ECRC) 57. The data link layer applies a sequence number 53 and a LCRC (Link Cyclic Redundancy Check) 54. The Physical Layer 45 then provides Framing 51, 52 for the packet. A simpler form of packet communication is supported between two Data Link Layers (connected to the same Link) for the purpose of Link management.

The upper Layer of the architecture is the Transaction Layer 41. The Transaction Layer's primary responsibility is the assembly and disassembly of Transaction Layer Packets (TLPs). TLPs are used to communicate transactions, such as read and write, as well as certain types of events. The Transaction Layer is also responsible for managing credit-based flow control for TLPs.

Every request packet requiring a response packet is implemented as a split transaction. Each packet has a unique identifier that enables response packets to be directed to the correct originator. The packet format supports different forms of routing or addressing depending on the type of the transaction. In this example, memory and I/O requests are routed based upon address, completions and configuration requests are routed based upon BDFs, and messages are implicitly routed to the root complex. The Packets may also have attributes such as No Snoop and Relaxed Ordering.

The transaction Layer supports four address spaces: the three PCI address spaces (memory, I/O, and configuration) and a Message Space. According to the PCI Express specification, the Message Space is used for error handling and to support all prior sideband signals, such as interrupt emulation, power-management requests, and so on, as in-band Message transactions. PCI Express Message transactions can be considered as “virtual wires” since their effect is to eliminate the wide array of sideband signals used in a conventional platform implementation.

The middle Layer in the stack, the Data Link Layer 43, serves as an intermediate stage between the Transaction Layer 41 and the Physical Layer 45. The primary responsibilities of the Data Link Layer 41 include Link management and data integrity, including error detection and error correction.

The transmission side of the Data Link Layer 43 accepts TLPs assembled by the Transaction Layer 41, calculates and applies a data protection code and TLP sequence number, and submits them to Physical Layer 45 for transmission across the Link. The receiving Data Link Layer 43 is responsible for checking the integrity of received TLPs and for submitting them to the Transaction Layer 41 for further processing. On detection of TLP error(s), this Layer is responsible for requesting retransmission of TLPs until information is correctly received, or the Link is determined to have failed.

The Data Link Layer 43 also generates and consumes packets that are used for Link management functions. To differentiate these packets from those used by the Transaction Layer (TLP), the term Data Link Layer Packet (DLLP) is used when referring to packets that are generated and consumed at the Data Link Layer.

The Physical Layer 45 includes all circuitry (electrical sub-block 49) for interface operation, including driver and input buffers, parallel-to-serial and serial-to-parallel conversion, PLL(s) (Phase-locked-loops), and impedance matching circuitry. It includes also logical functions (logic sub-block 47) related to interface initialization and maintenance. The Physical Layer 45 exchanges information with the Data Link Layer 43 in an implementation-specific format. This Layer is responsible for converting information received from the Data Link Layer 43 into an appropriate serialized format and transmitting it across the PCI Express Link at a frequency and width compatible with the device connected to the other side of the Link.

The PCI Express architecture has various facilities to support future performance enhancements via speed upgrades and advanced encoding techniques. Depending on actual implementation of these enhancements, the future speeds, encoding techniques or media may only impact the Physical Layer definition.

The Transaction Layer 41, in the process of generating and receiving TLPs, exchanges Flow Control information with its complementary Transaction Layer 41 on the other side of the Link. It also supports both software and hardware-initiated power management.

Initialization and configuration functions require the Transaction Layer 41 to store Link configuration information generated by the processor or management device and store Link capabilities generated by Physical Layer hardware negotiation of width and operational frequency

A Transaction Layer's Packet generation and processing services require it to: generate TLPs from device core Requests; convert received Request TLPs into Requests for the device core; convert received Completion Packets into a payload, or status information, deliverable to the core; detect unsupported TLPs and invoke appropriate mechanisms for handling them; and if end-to-end data integrity is supported, generate the end-to-end data integrity CRC and update the TLP header accordingly.

Within flow control, the Transaction Layer 41 tracks flow control credits for TLPs across the Link. Transaction credit status is periodically transmitted to the remote Transaction Layer using transport services of the Data Link Layer. Remote Flow Control information is used to throttle TLP transmission.

The transaction layer 41 can also implement ordering rules including the PCI/PCI-X compliant producer consumer ordering model and extensions to support relaxed ordering.

Power management services within the transaction layer 41 may include: ACPI/PCI power management, as dictated by system software; and hardware-controlled autonomous power management minimizes power during full-on power states.

The transaction layer 41 can also implement handling of Virtual Channels and Traffic Class. The combination of Virtual Channel mechanism and Traffic Class identification is provided to support differentiated services and QoS (Quality of Service) support for certain classes of applications. Virtual Channels provide a means to support multiple independent logical data flows over given common physical resources of the Link. Conceptually, this involves multiplexing different data flows onto a single physical Link. The Traffic Class is a Transaction Layer Packet label that is transmitted unmodified end-to-end through the fabric. At every service point (e.g., Switch) within the fabric, Traffic Class labels are used to apply appropriate servicing policies. Each Traffic Class label defines a unique ordering domain—no ordering guarantees are provided for packets that contain different Traffic Class labels.

The Data Link Layer 43 is responsible for reliably exchanging information with its counterpart on the opposite side of the Link. Accordingly, it has responsibility for initialization and power management services to: accept power state requests from the Transaction Layer 41 and convey them to the Physical Layer 45; and to convey active/reset/disconnected/power managed state information to the Transaction Layer 41.

The data link layer 43 also provides data protection, error checking and retry services, including: CRC generation; transmitted TLP storage for data link level retry; error checking; TLP acknowledgment and retry messages; and error indication for error reporting and logging.

The Physical Layer 45 provides services relating to interface initialization, maintenance control, and status tracking, including: Reset/Hot-Plug control/status; Interconnect power management; width and lane mapping negotiation; and polarity reversal. The physical layer 45 can also provide services relating to symbol and special ordered set generation including: 8-bit/10-bit encoding/decoding; and embedded clock tuning and alignment.

Within symbol transmission and alignment, the physical layer 45 can provide services including: transmission circuits; reception circuits; elastic buffer at receiving side; and multi-lane de-skew (for widths >x1) at receiving side. The physical layer 45 can also provide system DFT (Design For Test) support features.

The inter-layer interfaces support the passing of packets and management information. The transaction/data link interface provides: byte or multi-byte data to be sent across the link (including a local TLP-transfer handshake mechanism, and TLP boundary information); and requested power state for the link. The data link to transaction interface provides: byte or multi-byte data received from the PCI Express link; TLP framing information for the received byte; actual power state for the Link; and Link status information.

The data link to physical interface provides: byte or multi-byte wide data to be sent across the link (including a data transfer handshake mechanism, and TLP and DLLP boundary information for bytes); and requested power state for the Link. The physical to data link interface provides: byte or multi-byte wide data received from the PCI Express link; TLP and DLLP framing information for data; indication of errors detected by the physical layer; actual power state for the link; and connection status information.

Thus there has now been described an overview of the basic principles of the PCI Express interface architecture. Further information regarding the architecture can be obtained from the PCI Special Interest Group and from a variety of texts describing the architecture, such as “Introduction to PCI Express: A Hardware and Software Developer's Guide” ISBN: 0970284691, and “PCI Express System Architecture” ISBN: 0321156307.

As described above, a PCI Express switch provides a single upstream port and one or more downstream ports. Configuration of the ports can be carried out using the PCI Express configuration space headers. Examples of relevant headers are shown in FIG. 6. Each port typically behaves as a PCI Express to PCI Express bridge as specified by the PCI Express Base Specification and P2P Bridge Specification (and can therefore be considered to be a virtual PCI Express to PCI Express bridge (P2P)). Each P2P bridge is identified through a class code register in a Type 1 header being equal to a P2P (0x060400). Note that in accordance with the PCI Express specification, a PCI Express endpoint control and status register description is defined as a Type 0 and a P2P control and status register is defined as a Type 1. The class code is part of the control and status register in the Type 0/1 headers.

A conventional PCI Express switch is shown in FIG. 3 and described above. During system initialization, a bus-walk is performed by the system platform 24 (the owner of root complex 21). The bus-walk takes place as a series of configuration requests. Each device in a PCI Express hierarchy (including a switch port P2P device) is identified using a BDF. Each transaction layer packet which is transferred over the fabric includes a Requester ID field which is equal to the BDF of the requester of a transaction. In some cases, the packet may also include a Completer ID, which is the BDF of the completer of the transaction.

During the bus-walk, the system platform performs bus enumeration by conducting a series of configuration requests to the appropriate registers within the Type 0/1 headers of each device in the PCI Express hierarchy. This process assigns each device a unique BDF.

For example, in the switch shown in FIG. 3, the upstream port (PORT 0) may have a primary bus number of 1 (00000001), a secondary bus number of 2 (00000010) (being a bridge, the P2P has one bus number for each bus to which it is connected), a device number of 0 (00000) in accordance with the PCI Express specification, and a function number of 0 (000). The upstream port is identified as an upstream port through PCI Express Capabilities CSR Device Port Type field (the location of which is identified by the capability pointer field in the header) of the P2P control and status register within the upstream port Type 1 configuration header. Each downstream port (PORT 1, PORT 2, and PORT 3) has a primary bus number of 2 (00000010), and respective ports may have respective device numbers, e.g., PORT 1 may have device number 1 (00001), PORT 2 may have device number 2 (00010), and PORT 3 may have device number 3 (00011). In the case of the devices attached to the ports being single function devices, each will have a function number of 0 (000). If the attached devices were to be multi-function devices, the first function of any given device will be 0, with further functions being assigned function numbers in the range 1-7 as made possible by the three bits of the function number.

All P2P bridges are accessed through Type 1 configuration requests, and during enumeration, the host platform/root complex accesses registers within the bridge's Type 1 configuration space. An example of the PCI Express Type 1 configuration space header is shown in FIG. 6. As can be seen from the Figure, the Type 1 header includes fields identifying the device (Device ID, which is a physical device identifier, and Vendor ID, which is an identifier of the vendor company of the device). The Type 1 header also includes fields describing the status of the device (Status and Command, which is the Command and Status Register which provides status and control over the PCI Express interface). The Class Code field is used to define the type of device, as indicated above the P2P bridge is identified by a class code of 0x060400. The Type 1 header also has fields to identify the primary and secondary bus numbers of the P2P, and fields for BARs, and Base/Limit fields. The remaining fields are not of direct relevance to the present discussion, so in the interests of not obscuring the present disclosure, the reader's attention is directed to the PCI Express base specification for full details of these fields.

The downstream ports are accessed using Type 1 configuration requests with a BDF of {BN=virtual PCI Bus (2 in FIG. 3), DN=actual port/device, FN=function number within device implementing port}.

Also, respective ports may have respective secondary bus numbers, e.g., PORT 1 may have secondary bus number 3 (00000011), PORT 2 may have secondary bus number 4 (00000100), and PORT 3 may have secondary bus number 5 (00000101). Any of the devices may have a subordinate bus number (also identified in the Type 1 header) depending on the way in which the device is connected to the port. In the present example, it is assumed that device 3 connects to PORT 3 via a further P2P device. That further P2P has a primary bus number of 5 and a secondary bus number of 6, thus the subordinate bus number of PORT 3 in the present example is 6 (00000110). The subordinate bus number is the last bus number in the downstream hierarchy of a given port. The upstream port forwards Type 1 configuration requests to downstream ports when the configuration requests target a downstream port's subordinate bus. In case of an endpoint device being directly connected to a downstream port, the downstream P2P converts the Type 1 configuration request into a Type 0 configuration request. An example of the Type 0 configuration space header is shown in FIG. 7. As can be seen from that Figure, many of the fields are common to both Type 0 and Type 1 headers.

Of the fields in the Type 0 header which are not used in the Type 1 header, the MinG_nt and Max_Lat headers are not used in PCI Express and are set to 0 value and read only status for PCI Express configuration. The remaining fields are not of direct relevance to the present discussion, so in the interests of not obscuring the present disclosure, the reader's attention is directed to the PCI Express base specification for full details of these fields.

During configuration, memory space requested by devices is discovered and allocated by the platform. After configuration, the memory base/limit registers (BLRs) of a given port reflects the cumulative BARs for all downstream devices (i.e. downstream devices are mapped in contiguous address regions). For example, the BLR of PORT 1 may have a base of x0200 and a limit of x02FF, the BLR of PORT 2 may have a base of x0300 and a limit of x03FF, and the BLR of PORT 3 may have a base of x0400 and a limit of x04FF. Thus the BLR of PORT 0 must have a base of x0200 or lower and a limit of x04FF or higher. As each PORT has its own BLR space defined in the Type 1 header, PORT 0 must also have a BLR space for itself, thus in the present example, PORT 0 has a BLR with a base of x0200 and a limit of x04FF. There are independent BLRs for each of the three PCI address spaces. The I/O BLR has a 16 or 32-bit address, the memory BLR has a 32-bit address, and the prefetch memory BLR has a 32 or 64-bit address. According to the PCI Express specification, all PCI Express endpoints with the prefetchable bit set must support 64-bit addressing.

To simplify address decoding, the I/O BLR supports 4 k page granularity, and the memory BLRs use 1 MB granularity. Fields are provided in the Type 1 header to identify the address ranges in the prefetchable, I/O and memory categories.

Memory requests & I/O requests are routed based upon address. In the downstream direction a request is forwarded (or processed) if the address falls within the port's BLR. Upstream forwarding is based upon inverse decode relative to the same BLRs. Within a switch each P2P (port) provides separate BLR registers for each of the three address spaces. In order for a port to make a forwarding decision, it must have explicit knowledge of the other ports' BLR ranges.

Thus the initialization and configuration of a PCI Express switch have been described.

FIG. 8 provides a schematic overview of an example of an I/O software framework, in the present example a Solaris I/O software framework on a host. The software framework provides access to one or more I/O devices 125 via hardware 100 including a Northbridge 110 and a PCI-E switch 160. The platform (e.g., SPARC or x86) provides firmware 102 (e.g., OBP or BIOS 112) used before the operating system (OS) is booted. This firmware 102 and the OS software 115 combine to provide discovery and configuration (bus enumeration) of a PCI device tree. The Solaris OS run-time environment includes a kernel space 104 and a user space 106. A PCI-E Nexus driver (there are similar drivers in other operating systems) 114 in the kernel space 104 provides device enumeration, driver identification, drivers for the hostbridge and switches, and HPC (Hot-Plug Control) service. Each device 125 is handled either by a generic class driver or by a device specific driver 116 that interfaces to the (Solaris) environment via a Nexus device driver interface (DDI/DKI-Device Driver interface/Device Kernel Interface). Network device drivers interface to a generic OS network stack 120. Similarly, a generic storage stack 118 is provided for storage devices. In the user space 106, in which the applications 107 reside, device specific configuration commands and other generic commands for driver and device configuration could be issued through specific CLI (Command Line Interface) applications like cfgadm( ) and ifconfig( ) 108. It will be appreciated that other software frameworks are possible, for example a framework based on another operating system such as a Microsoft Windows OS, a Linux OS, etc.

A PCI device can have up to 8 functions. Each function may contain a number of registers which are defined within the PCI specification, although each function is not required to have an identical set of registers. Registers within a function capture status that changes many times faster than the rate at which a root complex can acquire information by individually sampling the many pieces of interface data a conformant device must collect. Device operation also requires manipulating signals per interface protocol that switch many times faster than the rate a remote host can manipulate. A device can incorporate sufficient foundation hardware for monitoring and controlling interface signals by collecting a sufficiently large subset into groups the remote host can manage.

An embodiment of this invention can be operable to divide this aspect of device behavior at a node in a bus hierarchy into two layers. A lower layer can contain foundation hardware necessary to collect and manipulate signals for a single or multi-function device. If the device is multi-function with N functions, this bottom layer may be split into N sub-units and individually configured into the device. The upper layer is the presentation view provided to the remote host.

Writing or reading registers within the presentation view is akin to accessing registers within a conventional PCI configuration space. However, in an embodiment of the invention, a remote host may in some cases read a shadow copy of a particular register rather than the register itself. As will be apparent later, this can provide advantages as regards flexibility, scalability, and efficiency.

FIG. 9 corresponds generally to FIG. 3. To avoid repetition, the features already described with reference to FIG. 3 are referenced by like reference numerals and will not be further described here.

FIG. 9 additionally illustrates a Presentation Layer (PL) 120 that holds presentation registers 122. The presentation registers 122 of the presentation layer 120 provide a presentation interface for the device to the host. They provide a standardized mechanism for software (e.g., that of the software framework described with reference to FIG. 8) to be able to control controllable functions of one or more devices and to access status in respect of those functions. In the context of a PCI or PCI-E bus system for example, the presentation layer can be termed the Configuration Space and the presentation registers can be termed Configuration Space registers, or CSRs.

In a conventional interconnect apparatus, such registers are hardwired registers. Given that multiple presentation registers are required to support a device and the functions thereof, that an interconnect apparatus can be operable to support many devices, and that such a device can in turn support other devices thereby providing a hierarchy of devices, a large number of registers can be required. Not only does the number of registers take up a lot of real estate on an integrated circuit, the interconnects the registers require when implemented as flip-flops take up a considerable area of an interconnection device and indeed can limit the available number of devices that can be supported.

In an embodiment of the invention, at least some presentation registers are held in memory under the control of a governor for managing access to the presentation registers in the memory. This can enable a flexible, adjustable, and efficient presentation memory architecture. Embodiments of the invention can also support a multi-level bus hierarchy and device virtualization with support for multiple hosts. In one embodiment of the invention, the memory used is SRAM memory.

FIGS. 10 to 13 illustrate examples of PCI structures. In these structures, a first function F0 is allocated to a first entity and other functions (F1, F2, etc) can be allocated to other entities. In the examples of FIGS. 10 to 12, the function F0 is allocated to a P2P bridge. However, it should be appreciated that the function F0 could be allocated to another entity instead.

FIG. 10 is a schematic representation of part of an example of a conventional PCI structure 210 in which a plurality of hard resources are supported via a software link 220. PCI requests are received at an interconnect apparatus 214 via a PCI Express link 212. In this example, the support in the interconnect apparatus 214 (e.g., a switch) for the hard resources R0-R7 includes a first function F0 216 that is allocated, for example, to a P2P bridge and optionally a second function F1 218 that is allocated, for example, to a configuration entity agent (CEA), the section of the device the configuration entity (CE) (e.g., 490 in FIG. 15) manipulates to determine how device resources should be shared. In a PCI structure, up to 32 devices, each having up to 8 functions can be supported for a P2P bridge and each device contains a function 0 to enable configuration by a host.

FIG. 11 is a schematic representation of part of another example of a conventional PCI structure 230 in which between 1 and 8 functions (F0-F7) 242 of a device 244 are supported via a link 240. PCI requests are received at an interconnect apparatus 234 via a PCI Express link 232. In this example, the support in the interconnect apparatus 234 (e.g., a switch) for the resource functions F0-F7 includes a first function F0 236 that is allocated, for example, to a P2P bridge and optionally a second function F1 238 that is allocated, for example, to a configuration entity agent. In other words, the 8 separate resources represented in FIG. 10 are implemented in this example as 8 functions of a single device.

FIG. 12 is a schematic representation of part of another example of a conventional PCI structure 250 where it is intended to support many devices. In this example, a first level compound device 264 includes up to 32 P2P bridges 266, to each of which is connected one or more second level devices 262. It should be understood that each of the second level devices could be a single device, for example with up to eight functions, or up to 32 devices, or a further compound device such as the first level device 264 that includes up to 32 P2P bridges and third level devices connected thereto, or a combination thereof. This structure can be extended as required to generate a hierarchical tree of devices supported via a link 260. As is the case for the examples of FIGS. 10 and 11, in FIG. 12 PCI requests are received at an interconnect apparatus 254 via a PCI Express link 252 and the support in the interconnect apparatus 254 (e.g., a switch) for the resources includes a first function F0 236 that is allocated, for example, to a P2P bridge and optionally a second function F1 238 that is allocated, for example, to a configuration entity.

FIG. 13 is a schematic representation of part of an example of a conventional PCI structure 274 that has 8 (or less) functions 276 and 278, with one function dedicated for the configuration entity agent. As an example FIG. 13 shows Function 0 as the CEA 276 although any of the functions could be designated the CEA. This structure does not use a P2P bridge as in this example the functions are within one device on one bus. In FIG. 13 PCI requests are received at an interconnect apparatus 274 via a PCI Express link 272.

As indicated above, a constraint on the implementation of such a functional hierarchy is the ability, or otherwise, to provide presentation registers in the interconnect apparatus to support such a hierarchy.

As mentioned above, a node in a bus hierarchy can be split into two layers. The lower or foundation layer contains a set of resources used to monitor and control signaling on a bus or link interface which is beyond the speed a remote host can manage. The upper or presentation layer is what is seen and manipulated by the remote host. It is this upper or presentation layer that includes the presentation registers. As also mentioned above, in a PCI implementation it is this presentation layer that is typically termed the configuration space and it is the presentation registers of the space that are typically termed Configuration Space Registers (CSRs).

As the particularly described embodiments, which relate to a PCI implementation, reference will be made to CSRs as an example only of such presentation registers. In other implementations, the presentation registers could have a different name but still provide a standardized mechanism for software to be able to control controllable functions of one or more devices and/or to access status in respect of those functions.

A configuration entity, which can be implemented in a host or in an interconnect apparatus, can be responsible for configuring the components of the foundation layer and the presentation layer to form a node.

FIG. 14 is a schematic representation of an example of such a presentation layer 300.

In the example illustrated, the actual or shadow copies of CSRs are held in a memory 306, in the present example implemented as static random access memory (SRAM). In other examples other types of memory (e.g., dynamic random access memory (DRAM)) could be used. SRAM is faster and more reliable than DRAM but is also much more expensive than DRAM.

For at least some CSRs, the only version of the registers may be in the memory 306. The data for at least some of the those registers can be held in non-volatile memory, for example in serial configuration programmable read only memory (SPROM) 304 and then be copied to the memory 306 to set up the registers on initial configuration of the system. This is done prior to any potential access by a remote host. There may also be device specific registers that may be held separate from the memory 306 (e.g., as hard-wired registers). A hard-wired register can be in the form of a register with a fixed functionality, for example configured as a discrete, flip-flop-based register allocated to a single fixed address, as opposed, for example, to a soft configurable register.

Some registers within the presentation layer contain information that reflects dynamic conditions of the link which get captured to inform a remote host. Although this high speed status information must be captured, real time updates of the presentation layer are not required. Judiciously constraining when the layer updates occur limits the I/O bandwidth requirements for the presentation layer device reducing its cost (e.g., alleviates need for a multiple port SRAM).

Resource blocks within the foundation layer generate status updates. In many bus interface designs such as PCI Express, status is placed in specific word entries rather than scattered throughout many bit field entries of the entire configuration register space. Therefore, status updates to an SRAM based presentation layer can be done efficiently by writing the appropriate word entry within the SRAM.

A resource block formulates a status update word, saves it in a register, and informs the governor (e.g., by raising a flag) it has an update for the presentation layer. Should status from the resource block change again prior to the governor allowing the presentation layer update to occur, the resource block updates the information in the holding register. The governor polls presentation layer access requests from one or more remote hosts seeking read or write access and foundation layer resource blocks seeking status updates. Ensuring proper ordering of writes between remote host and resource block status updates into the presentation layer and returning non-stale data to the remote host during host reads is a design specific implementation issue.

Access rules can be provided, for example as follows:

a) Presentation layer access requests are placed into a request queue ordering the requests.

b) If multiple resource blocks exist and simultaneous requests from multiple blocks occur, round robin arbitration is used to determine the order which a block places its request in the queue.

c) When a remote host requests access, the governor ensures all previously enqueued resource block status updates are serviced before the remote host access. Should the remote host and one or more resource block requests occur simultaneously, the remote host has lowest priority and its request serviced last.

A governor 302 controls the operation of the registers configured in the memory 306, including, for example the setting up of the registers in the memory 306 on initiation and the maintenance and control of access to the registers thereafter. The governor can have one or more of the functions described below.

The governor 302 can be responsive to CSR access requests received at 320 from a host to control access to the appropriate registers in the memory 306. The governor can be configured not only to enable access to the registers, but to control the sort of access (read, write, etc.) and also to prevent an illegal access request (for example from a host without appropriate permissions) from gaining access to the registers concerned.

The governor 302 can also be responsive to incoming status information for the CSRs received at 326, for example from the devices themselves, to control access to the appropriate registers in the memory 306. The governor can be configured not only to enable access to the registers, but to control the sort of access (read, write, etc.) to a register and also to prevent an illegal access to a register (for example a write to a read-only field of a register by a remote host).

The governor 302 can be operable to output CSR information read from the CSRs via a CSR read path 328. The governor can also transmit writes to external CSR registers via an external CSR write path 330. The writes can be transmitted in any appropriate manner, including serially where there is a need to save on interconnections. A copy of vendor specific registers spaced within the CSR space that is shared by all foundation layer resources can be placed externally to the memory 306, for example if this is more efficient for a given implementation. The Base Address registers (BARs) shown in FIG. 14 are shadow write-only copies of the BARs held in the memory 306. These shadow copies of the BARs can be updated serially via the external CSR write path 330.

The governor 302 is also operable to control the output of discrete CSR control signals based on the content of CSR registers held in the memory 306. For those CSR registers that hold information in respect of discrete CSR control signals for controlling the supported devices, the governor 302 controls the output of the content of those CSRs in the memory 306 to a control point decoder 310. The control point decoder can be operable to decode the supplied CSR content and to output discrete CSR control signals 336 to the supported devices as appropriate. Alternatively, the CPD can snoop the address and data lines 324 and 322 to provide control point outputs.

As the presentation layer is efficiently implemented in memory, in the present instance in SRAM, setting or clearing signals within the presentation layer must manipulate logic (control points) within the foundation layer. An example from PCI Express is the Command Register which has control bits such as the “memory space enable” (bit 1) or “enable bus mastering” (bit 2) which when set or cleared cause interface logic to take specific action. Bit 1, for instance, when set causes the device to respond to an access by an external host if the address is within the range that has previously been programmed into a BAR. Bit 2, when set, allows a controlled device to initiate transactions (DMA activity). The control point decoder 310 is responsible for causing logic (i.e., flip-flops) in the foundation layer to be set to the correct value when the corresponding bit in the presentation layer is changed.

The control points can be activated in a number of ways, including the following examples (a), (b) and (c).

a) Separate control point decode logic can be operable to decode an incoming CSR access request and to set the control points which are accessed. The governor 302 can be configured to know how long this takes and can be operable to time the acknowledge packet to arrive afterwards. b) When the Governor writes into the memory 306, logic can be operable to decode the SRAM address and data bits with knowledge (e.g., from a look up table in the governor 302) from where the control points values reside in the memory 306 and which data bit line contains the information for the control point update. c) The governor 302 could be configured to issue a signal causing external flops to update when it decodes incoming CSR accesses targeting a register with one or more control points.

The governor 302 can also include logic and mask filters, for example in one or more look up tables (344, see FIG. 14), for protecting the content of the CSR registers. For example, CSR access requests may only be granted access to permitted fields within a CSR register. In this manner, read only fields can be protected.

The governor 302 can also be responsible for reset control of the CSRs, including the initial loading of the register contents from the SPROM 304 into the memory 306 in the case of a fundamental reset (clear all error status) and the preservation of so-called “sticky bits” on other resets that need to preserve error status of selected registers.

As stated above, this invention allows an embodiment of the governor and presentation layer in a variety of implementations. An example of an implementation is outlined in the following.

In one example the governor is operable to access a static RAM which holds the contents of the presentation layer and to provide for efficient and effective use of the memory 306. Duplication of read-only registers in a multi-resource device can be exploited. Rather than repeat common values across the resources, shared read-only register values can be grouped into a shared region 340 of the memory 306. Modifiable registers within the foundation layer can have different values per resource. A unique region 342 of the memory 306 holds those registers and is split into N sub-regions for N sets of foundation resources (resources 1 to N) as illustrated in FIG. 13. Consequently, SRAM storage size can be appreciably reduced in an N-way resource in bus protocols with substantial number of registers which have a common value across resources. The governor decodes a configuration access by the host and indexes into the Shared or Unique Region based upon whether the register holds a common value across resources and the specific foundation resource requested identifiable via BDF (in PCI Express) and the lower address bits.

The governor initializes the memory 306 at power-on reset. Initial values can be stored in non-volatile storage such as the serial PROM 304 shown in FIG. 14. Certain reset conditions (e.g., “sticky” reset) require some fields not be changed from the value held prior to reset. The governor knows which reset has been issued and initializes the appropriate memory entries.

Many register bit fields within writeable configuration space registers are read-only. When the presentation and foundation layers are implemented with random logic, read-only fields are hard-wired to fixed values a specification dictates. To preserve read-only fields within a memory 306 based presentation layer, two mask values per type of register are placed into the write mask filter region 344 of the memory 306 during initialization. An incoming write to a register is logically ANDed with the first mask, the result logically ORed with the second mask, and that result written into the entry of the memory 306 corresponding to the register. The AND mask filter has a 0 in all bit positions which are to remain 0 and 1's in all other bits. The OR mask filter has a 1 in all bit positions which are to remain 1, and 0's in all other bits. The order of the AND and OR operations can be swapped as long as the AND and OR masks are used with the AND and OR logical operation.

A state description of the governor is listed below:

power-on_reset_state

-   -   if power_on_reset goto power_on_reset_state     -   initialize all memory locations with CSR register POR (power-on         reset) values     -   goto monitor_state         conditional_reset_state     -   if power_on_reset goto power_on_reset_state     -   initialize only memory locations holding non-preservable         registers to POR values     -   goto monitor_state         monitor_state     -   if power_on_reset goto power_on_reset_state     -   else if conditional_reset goto conditional_reset_state     -   else if status update request, goto foundation_access_state     -   else if remote host request, goto host_access_state     -   else goto monitor_state         foundation_access_state     -   if power_on_reset goto power_on_reset_state     -   else if conditional_reset goto conditional_reset_state     -   else write memory with contents of foundation resource status         holding register at entry corresponding to status register(s)     -   goto monitor_state         host_access_state     -   if power_on_reset goto power_on_reset_state     -   else if conditional_reset goto conditional_reset_state     -   else if Read access:         -   decode address         -   if access to read-only register common across foundation             layer resources, read entry within sharable region of memory             and return contents to remote host         -   if access is to register unique per each foundation layer             resource, read entry within unique region of memory for the             specific resource (e.g., identifiable via BDF in PCI             Express) and return contents to remote host     -   else if Write access:         -   decode address         -   access write mask filters which correspond to this register             type         -   perform: TEMP=host_data AND and_mask_filter             -   DATA=TEMP OR or_mask_filter         -   write DATA into memory at entry within Unique Region             corresponding to register within the foundation layer being             accessed         -   send acknowledge response to remote host timed to arrive             after update of memory and all affiliated control points has             completed     -   goto monitor_state

In the present example the states of the governor 302 described above can be implemented using hard-wired control logic. It will be appreciated that the governor could also be implemented in other ways, for example the governor could be implemented at least in part by software, operating on a microcontroller, microprocessor or the like.

An embodiment of the invention can provide a hierarchical configuration, for example including virtual P2P bridges with devices beneath. A configuration entity can be employed to assemble the components and can allow partial visibility of the entire structure based upon which remote host is accessing the node.

FIG. 15 is a schematic overview of an example embodiment of an interconnect apparatus or device (e.g., a switch) 460 for multi-host PCI-E device sharing. Two hosts 420, 430, operating under an operating system (OS) 424, 434, are connected via RC's 422, 432 to respective upstream ports 462, 463 of a partitioned PCI-E Switch 460. The PCI-E Switch 460 is partitioned into two virtual switches (vSwitches 464, 465). In this example, each virtual switch contains a single upstream port (P2P) 462, 463, possibly one or more downstream non-shared ports (P2P) 466, 467, 468, 469 and one or more shared downstream ports (sP2P) 476. The P2P ports can be described as physical ports. A shared sP2P port 476 is operable to connect to a sharable device 500 (e.g., an I/O device, a switch, etc.) through a shared PCI-E link 474. The shared link is a PCI-E interface 474 shared by multiple virtual switches 464, 465. In this example, each virtual switch 464, 465 attaches to a shared port (sP2P) 476 through one or more P2P bridges 478, 479. The shared port 476 with a bridge 478, 479 associated with a virtual switch 464, 465 can be described as a virtual port as this can provide port virtualization. The shared port 476 contains a routing table, an address translation table (and/or a combined routing and address translation table) and virtual switch separation/protection. The sharable device 500 contains a number of resources 502, 504 that the configuration entity (CE) 490 provisions to the hosts 420, 430. In the present instance, the configuration entity 490 is configured as part of the switch 460 of the interconnect apparatus. The configuration entity could be configured as part of a host or some other entity (e.g., a service processor connected to the interconnect apparatus).

The provisioning of the shared device resources 502, 504 can be determined by an out of band policy. The configuration entity 490 communicates with a configuration entity agent (CEA) 514 in the device that controls device resources that by nature are not sharable, e.g., reset, sharing policy, etc.).

Each resource 502, 504 in the device 500 is represented as a PCI device or a PCI function. The sharable device contains N+1 functions, where N denotes the number of virtual devices the shared device supports, and ‘1’ is the single function allocated for the configuration entity (see also FIGS. 10 to 12).

Functions are provisioned by the configuration entity 490 to hosts 420, 430 (or system images within a host). Re-provisioning of functions to other system images can take place through PCI-E Hot-Remove/-Add interrupt events that the configuration entity 490 initiates through the configuration entity agent 514.

Only a Host 420, 430 or system image currently owning a function is allowed access to a function 502, 504. An access control mechanism per function 502, 504, can be provided.

In addition, to provide transparency for each host, each function is configured to have a separate address space per function (configuration, I/O and memory address spaces per function). The host 420, 430, or system image, performs BAR configuration of the functions it currently owns. This, and the access control mechanism, means that there is no address space overlap per function in the present instance.

A function in a shared device representing a resource 502, 504 (e.g., DMA machine) could be termed a virtual device (vDevice). A virtual device 500 being provisioned to a host 420, 430 can be presented to the Host as a device on the respective virtual PCI bus 464VB, 465VB of the respective virtual switches 464, 465 or as part of a virtual device hierarchy below a P2P port 476 of that virtual switch virtual PCI bus 464VB, 465VB.

Memory and I/O transaction layer packet (TLP) requests in the downward directions (from host to virtual device) can be routed based upon address until the shared port (sP2P) 476 as per the PCI-E specification. At the shared port (sP2P) 476, the Requester ID is replaced with the virtual host ID. Below the shared port (sP2P) 476, the TLP is primarily routed by the virtual host ID and secondarily by address (in case of the latter the virtual host ID is used as address qualifier).

The configuration entity 490 can be operable to control all aspects of a shared I/O device and/or I/O Service (IOU). In a shared device the configuration entity can implement the provisioning of device resources to client hosts.

The presentation layer of FIG. 14 can be configured, for example, as part of the configuration entity 490.

To support a multi-level hierarchy, for example as illustrated with reference to FIG. 15, the governor 302 can be operable to recognize accesses which go through a virtual PCI-to-PCI (P2P) bridge. Such accesses can include fall-through access, where accesses to an endpoint resource in either the presentation or foundation layer do not incur extra latency such as might occur if the packet were traveling through a separately implemented bridge or switch. The governor converts a Type 1 to Type 0 configuration request if the Configuration Entity has composed a P2P bridge with an endpoint beneath and the host's configuration access is to the endpoint bus. Likewise, a PIO access to an element within the endpoint's BAR enabled address space can be decoded and processed directly by the endpoint.

The configuration entity 490 can be operable to connect building blocks including functions and P2P bridges into a composite device as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 12. The governor 302 can be configured to resolve error management, where possible, at the device level.

Bus protocol architecture and design specific implementation determines which levels of a composite device must independently detect, register, or signal errors. Redundant error logic is clearly disadvantageous from a cost perspective. In one efficient implementation, the governor can be operable to signal a detected error within the presentation layer for an embedded P2P bridge when a resource at the foundation layer updates an error status register and there is an overlap between bridge and endpoint error reporting requirements for a given bus architecture. The philosophy behind this implementation is to manage as many errors as possible at the foundation resource level where hardware provisions already exist for error management. Error management requirements common between endpoint and P2P bridge are primarily implemented in the endpoint with the governor updating the P2P presentation layer. This may leave a small number of cases the embedded P2P bridge must individually manage. Another option where a configuration entity is used is for the configuration entity to have resources for error management and update the presentation layer at P2P or endpoint levels as required.

With reference for example to FIGS. 10 to 12, the configuration entity 490 can be operable to provide configuration and partitioning, whereby the presentation layer can present to a remote host several options for a node including:

a) a single function device;

b) a multi-function device;

c) a hierarchal node with a P2P bridge at top and a multi-function device below;

d) a hierarchal node with a P2P bridge at the top, multiple P2P bridges beneath, and devices, either a single or multi-functioned, below the lower P2P bridges;

e) a hierarchal node with a multi-functioned device at top which contains a P2P bridge, one or more additional functions which are not P2P bridges, and beneath the P2P bridge, a structure as c or d above.

The configuration entity 490 can configure a group of device building block resources into an ensemble which provides foundation layer and presentation layer elements for a node.

The configuration entity 490 can configure resource blocks such that each remote host has visibility and access to a specific subset of the resources within the node. To this end the governor 302 can be operable to provide resource masking for supporting device virtualization. Some PCI devices or functions within a device may not be visible to one or more remote hosts performing enumeration on the node. The configuration entity can also provide function renaming as appropriate (e.g., function 1 to function 0).

Multi-host flexibility can be provided for functions (e.g., multiple SRAM tables with the subset of functions configured belonging to the host). The SRAM can be a larger version of single host SRAM with the governor 302 indexing accesses into SRAM based upon a host ID.

Accordingly, there has been described an interconnect apparatus and method for interconnecting at least one host to at least one device and providing a plurality of presentation registers providing a presentation interface for the device to the host, the interconnect apparatus comprising memory for holding the presentation registers and a governor operable to manage the presentation registers in the memory.

An example of the invention can include partitioning the device management into a presentation layer that software uses, which presentation layer defines and allows control of a device through its CSR registers and an underlying, or foundation, layer which directly monitors and manipulates the PCI protocol. Firmware or management software can be employed to configure the components comprising the layers into an integral PCI device.

For example, foundation layer resources can be configured as device functions by a configuration entity or not utilized as configuration requirements dictate. In the example described above, the presentation layer includes an SRAM with a controller. Alternatively, for example, the presentation layer could include a local host DRAM with external logic, for example a local host CPU configured as a controller or governor.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications as well as their equivalents. 

1. An interconnect apparatus for interconnecting at least one host to at least one device that includes a plurality of presentation registers that reside in the interconnect apparatus, wherein the presentation registers: provide a presentation interface for the device to the host, the interconnect apparatus comprising memory for holding the presentation registers and a governor operable to manage the presentation registers in the memory, and comprise soft-configurable registers and hard-wired registers, wherein the interconnect apparatus enables software to modify the presentation registers to define, control, and access a status of one or more devices, and wherein the governor polls presentation layer access requests from one or more remote hosts seeking read or write access and foundation layer resource blocks seeking status updates.
 2. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein the governor is operable to configure and/or control access to the presentation registers.
 3. The interconnect apparatus of claim 2, wherein the interconnect apparatus is operable to interconnect multiple hosts to at least one device, the device provides a plurality of functions, respective sets of one or more presentation registers are associated with respective functions, and the governor is operable to support device virtualization according to an allocation of the respective functions to respective ones of the multiple hosts.
 4. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein the governor comprises hard-wired logic for managing access to the presentation registers in the memory.
 5. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein the governor is operable to provide error management in respect of the presentation registers.
 6. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein the governor is operable to provide reset control in respect of the presentation registers.
 7. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein the governor is at least partially integral to an interconnect device.
 8. The interconnect apparatus of claim 7 wherein the governor is integral to an interconnect device.
 9. The interconnect apparatus of claim 7, wherein the governor comprises hard-wired logic.
 10. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory is integral to an interconnect device.
 11. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory comprises SRAM.
 12. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory comprises DRAM.
 13. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one hard-wired register mirrors a presentation register in memory.
 14. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one bus connected to an interconnect device is a PCI bus.
 15. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one bus connected to an interconnect device is a PCI-E bus.
 16. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein write masks are provided in the memory to selectively prevent remote host modification of read only fields of presentation registers.
 17. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory is configured to include non-shared presentation registers.
 18. The interconnect apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory is configured to include shared presentation registers.
 19. A computer system comprising an interconnect apparatus for interconnecting at least one host to at least one device and providing a plurality of presentation registers, wherein the presentation registers reside in the interconnect apparatus, wherein the presentation registers provide a presentation interface for the device to the host, the interconnect apparatus comprising memory for holding the presentation registers and a governor operable to manage the presentation registers in the memory, and comprise soft-configurable registers and hard-wired registers, wherein the interconnect apparatus enables software to modify the presentation registers to define, control, and access a status of one or more devices, and wherein the governor polls presentation layer access requests from one or more remote hosts seeking read or write access and foundation layer resource blocks seeking status updates.
 20. A method of interconnecting at least one host to at least one device via an interconnect apparatus, the method comprising maintaining in memory in the interconnect apparatus a plurality of presentation providing a presentation interface for the device to the host and managing the presentation registers in the memory, wherein the presentation registers: provide a presentation interface for the device to the host, the interconnect apparatus comprising memory for holding presentation registers and a governor operable to manage the presentation registers in the memory, and comprise soft-configurable registers and hard-wired registers, wherein the interconnect apparatus enables software to modify the presentation registers to define, control, and access a status of one or more devices, and wherein the governor polls presentation layer access requests from one or more remote hosts seeking read or write access and foundation layer resource blocks seeking status updates.
 21. The method of claim 20, comprising configuring and/or controlling access to the presentation registers.
 22. The method of claim 20, comprising interconnecting multiple hosts to at least one device, wherein the device provides a plurality of functions and respective sets of one or more presentation registers are associated with respective functions, the method further comprising supporting device virtualization according to an allocation of the respective functions to respective ones of the multiple hosts. 